very good morning. i'm richard lui in for chris jansing. two big pieces of president obama's second-term agenda moving forward today. the president and vice president are meeting with sheriffs and police chiefs from across the country to talk about guns at the white house. in just over an hour at least three of the chiefs handled the shootings in aurora, colorado, oak creek, wisconsin, and newtown, connecticut. this afternoon a bipartisan group of senators will unveil a plan to deal with immigration. that group there includes four democrats and four republicans. >> we are committed to a comprehensive approach to finally in this country have an

immigration law that we can live with. >> i'm cautiously optimistic. i see the right spirit. i see things that were once off the table for agreement and discussion being on the table with a serious pathway forward. >> now, the plan will include a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants. something many republicans had backed away from until now. >> i'll give you a little straight talk. look at the last election. look at the last election. we are losing dramatically the hispanic vote, which we think should be ours for a variety of reasons. and we've got to understand that. second of all, we can't go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows. >> i want to bring in "new york times" columnist nick chrisoff and jackie kucinich. is this time different? you were looking at the full screen earlier there. you have a bipartisan group. big hitters in there. schumer, mccain, rubio.menendez.

it feels to me as if a month of sundays may have just hit the calendar. the stars are aligning. it does feel different. whether it's going to be enough i don't know. i think republicans have really been sobered by the last election results. i think they feel they have to do something. seeing leadership from people like marco rubio i think really does give a lot of republicans who might have doubts otherwise a real chance to think again. >> the credibility, the aura, the halo that may be needed here. jackie, those eight senators we were showing are putting their bipartisan plan out the day before the president is scheduled to outline his immigration proposal in a speech in las vegas. what are you seeing in the timing? are they trying to triang late? >> it shows momentum on this issue. here's the thing which has been the hitch on a couple different things this year already. the house. the house is going to be hard to get this through the house. it's going to be hard to get some house republicans on board. but the fact you have this bipartisan group of senators and the president and everyone stepping on each other trying to get their plan out first, it

shows momentum on this issue and it does increase the chance something could get done on this. >> getting it through the house. what do they need from the senate? 89-8 like we saw in the fiscal cliff deal? is that going to be the momentum they need? >> it's hard to tell with the house. sometimes as we've seen this year. you had paul ryan say some nice things about rubio's plan. we might see him again being a leader on this issue. we'll see. >> so as we know, the devil's in the details. you both looked through the plan. right now it's a pretty 50,000 feet, about four pages long. these senators have not decided how long immigrants, for instance, will have to wait before they become citizens. rubio's saying a longer and less direct path than the dms had wanted. and how the government would verify the enforcement that has been enhanced they're describing in this draft so far. take a listen to what bob corker said on fox yesterday on "get your response." >> details matter. i think right now they're at the talking point stage and this needs to be reduced to

legislation. the last time this blew up was when it was reduced to legislation. so it's my hope that we will come up with a bipartisan solution. >> nick, what are some of the details you think that, look, it's four pages right now. we're early on. what details need to be hammered out? >> the basic thing is that first the security measures to reduce immigration are being -- that has to be worked out first. plus limitations on hiring of illegal immigrants. only when that is in place do you begin to have this pathway to citizenship. i think that hammering out those security details, determining what is enough, is going to be really tough. but, you know, i really -- it really does feel to me as if right now the democrats desperately would like this legacy issue and republicans desperately want to be -- desperately want to avoid being blamed for blowing this up. >> on that note, nick, here, i'll go to you, jackie, the headline read in the l.a. times. look at this number. president obama did win 7 in 10

hispanic voters. big number there. the gop trying to see as you saw john mccain intimating, they're trying to win some of them back here. >> absolutely. it's a group they tried to court every single election year that i can remember in the last couple years. the thing is, it's not necessarily that latinos, immigration is the number one thing on their list that's important. i think it was the economy this last election. part of it is the tone. you hear -- there's a lot of things that are said during this debate that has been hurtful to the republican party. i think when you talk to a lot of latino republican strategists they'll tell you that. so that is going to be one of the things they have to navigate. the tone and how they talk about this. in addition to -- on top of the action. >> what it really comes down to is all things being equal, though, when it comes down to immigration. that's where it stands out for this one group. stand by. i want to bring in congressman steve israel who joins us right now. congressman, thanks for being here. >> good morning. >> let me start with this. even john boehner said now is the time to deal with immigration.

but, you know the questions you were just talking about. is will some of your colleagues on the far right, tea partyiers, perhaps, support this path to citizenship for illegal immigrants? >> well, you know, jackie kucinich had it exactly right. this has the prospect of s success. it's all about whether house republicans are willing to stand up to the tea party base. you've got a bipartisan group of senators left and right advocating a path forward. you've got the president of the united states who will unveil his views on a path forward. what this comes down to now is will these house republicans who have pandered to their intolerant tea party base, who have fed into the extremism of that tea party base, are they willing to stand up to the tea party and do what's right for america? we'll see whether they're able to amass the votes to get us forward. >> they might see this is amnesty. what would you say? >> well, you know what? i'm interested in solutions. i'm not interested in rhetoric. i'm not interested in finger pointing. i'm not interested in the old

debates, the old sound bites. we need a solution that is fair and balanced. that secures our borders. that has tough, verifiable enforcement. but also provides a path to citizenship for those who are here and part of our economy. when you've got republican senators who are willing to support this, it's time for house republicans to support it as well. >> as you know, part of this plan that was put out and we got the details overnight, it promotes a guest worker program geared toward the needs of farmers. that's important to many states in the south as well as the west. but it's something that unions including the afl/cio has argued would institutionallize, basically, a second class work force that could be exploited by employers. with that idea, how do you win union support? >> well, look. you've got a bipartisan group of senators who've put this out as a starting point. the president of the united states is going to provide his views in las vegas tomorrow. this is for the first time you've got people on both sides of the aisle who are beginning the debate. beginning the conversation.

with the aim of getting to a solution. this is not going to be perfect. immigration is a very difficult problem to solve. nobody's going to be entirely happy at the end of the day. but if we can arrive at a bipartisan solution and make it as good as possible, it would be a heck of a lot better than the broken and dysfunctional system that we have now. so we should bring all the stakeholders in, have this dialogue, move forward and hope that house republicans for once and for all will stand up to their own tea party intolerant base and vote for compromise and solutions. >> i want to switch subjects for a moment here, congressman. we're also seeing the president meeting with sheriffs and law enforcement this morning to push his gun control legislation. have you seen any movement from republicans on that issue? >> i've seen movement, but backwards. you know, we keep on seeing these tragedies and viewing them as teachable moments. and then we very quickly forget the lessons until the next tragedy. we cannot allow this lesson to escape us. it's time for common sense reforms. yesterday i heard general mcchrystal, who i visited in afghanistan, who was the

commander of our forces in afghanistan, talk about the fact that, you know, we have troops who handle assault weapons, military weapons. but not without care and training. and we need the same kind of common sense reforms in the united states with respect to limiting magazines and universal background checks. those are good starts and we ought to get that done quickly. >> what do you see happening first? we talked about immigration reform and then we talked about gun control. it will be a very difficult season with all the political capital that may be expended by this president. which is most likely to get through first? >> you know, i've learned that with this republican majority in congress, the only thing that's predictable is the unpredictable will happen. i think it is a good sign that you do have a specific and concrete bipartisan support in the senate for immigration reform. now as jackie said, we have to see whether there will be enough house republicans that will join that bipartisanship and pass immigration reform. i'm hopeful that we can get there. as long as they're willing to vote with republican senators

and not cater to extremism and intolerance. >> congressman steve israel, thank you so much for your time today. back to our journalists here. nick, president obama talked about this in his interview with the new republic. he says he has a profound respect for hunting. quote, and i think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake. part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas, end quote. what do you think? what part of this is about gun owners and the culture that maybe the left does not understand? >> i think, i mean, coming from a rural part of oregon, i do think it is true that sometimes the left uses rhetoric that tends to scare gun owners who might otherwise be willing to support tougher measures. and i also frankly think that the left has made a strategic mistake here by focusing so much on the assault weapons ban. now, i believe we should have an assault weapons ban. i think we should limit

magazines to no more than ten bullets. at the end of the day the single thing in the president's proposal that is going to make the most difference is universal background checks. this is the heart of it. 40% of gun sales right now don't go through background checks. >> as we know we had bill clinton earlier on say be careful about the way the issue is approached. >> is framed. >> is framed. that's correct. >> yes. another thing that is -- that would make a huge difference is if guns were stored safely. right now typically they're not. one of the things in the president's proposal is simply to emphasize that issue. there again, you know, only 1% of gun murders in this country are caused by assault weapons. there are an awful lot more attributed to guns stored poorly. the mistake democrats made in 1994 was to focus so much on the assault weapons ban that they got a ban that didn't really make much difference. i think this is a chance to remedy that mistake and, sure, push for the assault weapons ban duh don't ignore this other stuff. >> jackie, respond to what nick is saying. i also want your response to

this. they also asked the president if he has ever fired a gun. he says he shoots skeet at camp david. when you put that all together should that matter? >> i don't know that his skeet shooting matters in this particular debate because, i mean, it's such a complicated issue, you know. the fact that he goes skeet shooting on the weekweekends, i think, is a fun anecdote but not meaningful in this debate. you see some senators coming together talking about background checks. you don't hear a lot of -- the fact that there is bipartisan buy in on some level in this issue says potentially we could be seeing a bill and it could go forward in some form. >> nick kristof and jackie kucinich, thank you. to cairo, egypt, where there have been new clashes between police and demonstrators on this fifth day of unrest. this morning riot police fired tear gas at rock throwing protesters in central cairo. more than 50 people have been kimmed in the anti-government

protests that again on the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled long time leader hosni mubarak. we'll have a report live from cairo coming up later in the house. i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is! your financial advisor should focus on your long-term goals, not their short-term agenda. [ woman ] if you have the nerve to believe that cookie cutters should be for cookies, not your investment strategy. if you believe in the sheer brilliance of a simple explanation. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do: face time and think time make a difference. join us. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing.

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in his first interview since the inauguration, president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton tackled questions about their complicated rivals turned partners relationship. >> i considered hillary a strong friend. >> yeah. i mean, very warm, close -- i think there's a sense of understanding that, you know, sometimes doesn't even take words. because we have similar views. >> keep that in mind. watch this. it was a far cry from their hard fought primary battle nearly five years ago. take a listen. >> i was fighting against those ideas when you were practicing

law and representing your contributor rezko in his slum landlord business in inner city chicago. >> i want to bring in "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page. we couldn't help but look back, susan, before we look forward here. how real when you looked at that interview on "60 minutes," how real is this friendship? a bit stilted maybe? >> richard, i've been covering the white house since 1980. i thought it came through as pretty real. and remarkable. i can't think of another time when a president and his top rival for the nomination had both a partnership and clearly some kind of personal, relaxed relationship. i didn't think it was particularly stilted. i mean, if you had had bill clinton and michelle obama there, maybe there would have been more a sense of some awkwardness. i don't know if they've forgiven all those wounds from the primary battle. but i thought this was a really interesting interview and quite remarkable. >> yeah. they were saying that their

significant others probably took it more to heart when those criticisms had come through. what about the timing, though, susan? it happened so early after the inauguration. >> you know, call me naive. but i think it may have been exactly what they said. that -- that hillary clinton has done a lot of good for barack obama the past four years. the fact that she was willing to join the administration, serve so loyally. kept the party, democratic party united. that at this point she's leaving after hitting a bit of a rough spot with the benghazi con tro strersy and also with her health issues that it was a way to say thank you. the only person might not have been so thrilled to see this interview is joe biden. because they could be rivals for the democratic nomination in 2016. but i think it may have been just exactly what barack obama said. a chance to say thank you. >> and he had called her one of the finest secretaries of state. with that said here, susan, last day, this friday, for secretary clinton. what can't president obama do in

his second term without her? we've said it so many times. she's the most traveled, has spent the most miles in the air. the administration also according to what steve croft was pointing out in the interview, saying they had no major foreign policy accomplishments, major ones, that is, that they could hold high was his question in the first four years. will that change for kerry? will that be different in this second term with hillary clinton gone? >> i think there are some openings for the obama administration that weren't there in the first four years. you know, we're out of iraq. we're going to be out of afghanistan, our troops out of afghanistan at the end of next year. i think there are going to be some foreign policy challenges with iran and syria and libya and who knows where. and maybe a little bit more of an opening for foreign policy. we also know that presidents in their second term, they tend to turn to foreign policy in those final two years when it is so hard to get things through congress. so i would say, you know, and

he's got a secretary of state who's very experienced in john kerry and who also has a relationship with barack obama. >> is there anything he can't do now that secretary clinton will be -- again, friday is her last day. what capability does he lose in her specifically? >> well, she had a great history. she was a -- you know, has often been said a rock star around the world. that was a big help in many of her travels that she was seen as such a celebrity. a real focus on the plight of women and girls in some parts of the world. some of that may fade a bit. of course, she's not going away mad. so there are ways in which barack obama could continue to tap her or tap her husband in some -- in some foreign policy issue. i wouldn't think that's impossible looking ahead for this term. >> susan, secretary clinton was asked about a possible run in that interview in 2016. we have to play that. >> and i don't think, you know, either he or i can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year. >> but she also laughed earlier

in that interview when they were touching on that very issue. steve croft was saying, you know, how long will the president's endorsement last? and so amid the reports of joe biden as you were talking about that and his possible presidential bid in 2016, could the president be forced to choose between the two here? >> you know, traditionally presidents have not weighed in on the nomination battle that follows them. i would assume that president obama might well follow that path. it's probably a wise one. i wouldn't be surprised if you saw barack obama and joe biden doing a joint interview at some point in the future on guns or some other issue. the interesting thing i thought about hillary clinton's response to that question was, it was not no. >> right. exactly. >> it was maybe. the door is clearly open. >> again, fairly jovial about it. kind of laughing about the subject in a nice way. but, you know, how does he choose really between biden who's been sort of the knight in shining armor. he saved the president if you will or some of his issues

several times within -- we can think of the fiscal cliff. then you've got bill clinton who has come to the president's aid consistently for four years now. that's got to be a bit of a tear for the president. >> you know, i don't -- i don't think it's going to be up to barack obama after eight years who the democratic nominee is going to be. it's going to be up to democrats who are in that nomination fight. we know there's a rising generation of democratic hopefuls that may well run as well. but you certainly have two big heavyweights running with hillary clinton and joe biden. i guess i assume that they don't both run for the nomination. because of their standing. because i think we are unlikely to see a showdown between the two of them. but who knows. i mean, we've been surprised in the past. >> interesting interview, wasn't it? the first time they've ever been interviewed together. you and i both got to see that. >> yeah, it would have been great. i only wish they had done it with "usa today." >> that's next time. that's next time. susan page, thank you so much.

from "usa today." we want to let you know, our own andrea mitchell will be interviewing secretary clinton. that is wednesday at 1:00 p.m. on "andrea mitchell reports." don't miss that. keeping up with the changing times the pentagon will boost its cyber security staff. according to "washington post" another 4,000 people will be assigned to help counter increasing threats against government computer networks. officials say they intend to focus their efforts on networks outside the u.s. [ male announcer ] how do you make america's favorite recipes? just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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call... to switch, and you could save hundreds. ♪ born to make mistakes liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? to politics now where this afternoon the senate is expected to sign off on $50.5 billion in emergency relief to help victims of superstorm sandy. it's been three months since the storm hit new york, and the relief bill was originally passed in the senate in late december. but the house left before taking that up. new york city mayor michael bloomberg made a $350 million gift to his alma mater on sunday. over the last 40 years,

bloomberg has given $1.1 billion to johns hopkins university. there you go. these old pictures we dug up for you given to us by the college showed what the mayor looked like as a college student. this latest donation makes bloomberg the most generous liing donor to any education institution in the country according to "the new york times" and numbers provided by university officials. there he is back in college. president obama talked about reducing the violence in football in an interview with the new republic. he also said, i'm a big football fan but have to tell you, if i had a son i'd have to think long and hard before i let him play football. the president will host nba champions, by the way, the miami heat this afternoon. he'll congratulate lebron james and team members on their 2012 season. since we're talking about parties, "snl" did a great spoof of the fun vice president joe biden is having after the inauguration. >> what are you going to do with nacho man joe biden comes for you? yeah! >> come on down to delaware. a place that knows how to party.

as the saying goes, what happens in delaware -- >> 2016 presidential exploratory committee. >> we move to something a little more serious. an arrest is made in that deadly nightclub fire in brazil. details ahead on that. plus, a close call for one motorcyclist as a tractor trailer comes barreling toward him. this is jansing & co. on msnbc. with real wholesome cream. going fresh from the farm, to our fridge, in just six days. because we believe in fresh taste. that's the way we set the standard for intensely rich, luscious flavor. so our story of fresh taste always ends... deliciously. when it comes to taste, philadelphia sets the standard. when it comes to taste, so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way!

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republicans have a new strategy when it comes to taking on president obama. be positive and prudent is the headline in politico. prominent republicans are urging the party to offer their own positive alternatives while strategically choosing their battles with an emboldened president. >> all the of the statements and all of the comments lead me to believe he's thinking more of a political conquest than political compromise. we have to show our ideas are better at fighting poverty. how our ideas are better at solving health care.

how our ideas are better at solving the problems people are experiencing in their daily lives. >> let's bring in democratic strategist and former obama campaign aid blake zef. and john fury, republican strategist and former communications director for speaker dennis haster. blake, i'll start with you. the headline, positive and prudent. if you put that together in a strategic mix with the idea of opposition and accommodation along the way as politico is describing it here, could this bear some fruit for republicans as they try to push forward and move away from the election? >> i think in theory it could. but the problem is all we're seeing right now is rhetoric. it remains to be seen whether this is actually the path they take. to name one example it is encouraging, for example, there's potentially some early steps on immigration. but what we are also seeing is, for example, paul ryan saying on the budget that he's going to propose a plan that would really aggressively reduce deficits in the next ten years. well, remember that plan that was so toxic during the campaign he could hardly talk about it

that he had done previously for a budget because it would cut social security and medicare and medicaid? well, that one was supposed to reduce deficits over 30 years. this new one just ten years is far more aggressive than even that. that's not showing prudence and patience. >> you don't think that tone is necessarily going to be taken up. john, congressman ryan also spoke at the national review institute. he was warning republicans not to take the bait from president obama. take a listen. >> the president will bait us. he will portray us as cruel and unyielding. we can't get rattled. we won't play the villain in his morality plays. we have to stay united. we have to show that if given the chance, we can govern. that we have better ideas. >> then he was on the sunday talk scene as you probably watched over the weekend here, john. so you heard morality plays. he also used the word political conquest. you add in john boehner saying the president wants to annihilate republicans. it seems to be a little bit

different than that headline we were just talking about. maybe catering more to the right of the center of the gop. >> well, i think paul ryan is emerging after this election as a real leader in the party. i think he's exactly right. that you've got to pick your battles. you can't fight things that you know you're going to lose on. you have to stand up for your principles. you have to energize your base. at the same time broaden your base. i think paul ryan is understanding we've got to talk abouti issues that haven't been talked about in a while. how do you fight poverty? how do you help people get from the poor to the middle class. how do you protect the middle class. how do you do that in a way that is sensitive and sensible and not ideological. this is why paul ryan is emerging as a real leader in the party. i think it shows that in two to four years the party is going to be rebounding quite nicely. >> john, which of the two is it, though? is it that idea of positive and prudent or is it this, this is a partisan war, if you will, given the words that were used over the weekend?

>> well, i think -- i think you can do both. i think you have to fight on those things that you disagree strongly with the president on. at the same time, you have to let the american people know why you have a better idea and what your ideas are. this a battle of ideas. if you don't talk about your new ideas you're going to lose on that battle. >> blake, you sort of touched on this a second ago. if they do come up with a battle cry and they do agree on it and they can do both as john is saying here, the question might be can you round up the strays? can you get the entire party or a majority of that party to take this message forward and actually act on it? >> i think that's really the big concern for republicans. is that you may have some leaders who decide, you know what, we need to actually pick our battles here and be a little bit more strategic here. but the problem is they've got a fringe of that party that is not more -- that is not just one or two people. it's more than that. who strongly believe in really far right views. and they're willing to go over the -- to let the debt ceiling collapse. they were willing to shut down the government. that's not really the kind of thing that -- that speaks to a

new direction for this party. >> john, we're talking about immigration reform, right, today. is this the pivot point. is this where you might see republicans come together with democrats? >> it could be. i do think, though, i've seen this before where the senate come up with a plan without any input from the house. and then the house decides not to do it. >> right. >> i think this is the problem. that you've got to have cooperation. i do think there are some ways you can make it easier for people to get citizenship without actually getting into amnesty. and i think that finding that trick is going to be difficult but can be achieved. i do think that for republicans, it makes a lot of sense strategically to get immigration passed. if we're going to have a good conversation with hispanic voters, we can't do it in the context of holding up immigration reform. it also has a real big impact on asian voters. i think people from asia who come in here, they don't like that negative immigrant rhetoric that comes from some elements. i think for republicans they also have to understand those extremist elements, they can't be characterized by them. just as the democrats have not

been necessarily characterized by their far left proponents. >> that's a good point. asian-american voters, three-quarters of adults were born abroad. three-quarters speak english as a second language. immigration is certainly important to that group. with this inauguration speech and the president coming out very strong and those who've been watching it say it was a little bit more energetic than they thought, it really pushed left. with this new resolute confidence, if you will, for the progressives, has this caught the republicans a little bit on their heels? so, therefore, they have to look at a strategy that can combat what is a very confident left? >> i think so. look, the problem really for republicans is not just governing. i think john will agree with me on this. it's also political. in addition to the issues we just discussed there's also the fact that in the midterm elections, for example, that are coming up, will they repeat the same mistakes and problems they've had in the past where they nominate far right candidates who then ultimately lose in general elections only

further increasing the senate majority for the democrats which makes it even harder for republicans to move out of the wilderness. >> thank you so much, blake. john, i owe you one next time we talk, all right. >> no problem. >> appreciate it. making news this morn wk police in brazil have, quote, temporarily arrested three people in connection with the deadly nightclub fire. two members of the band and one of the nightclub owners are in custody. a fourth person is being sought. at least 233 people were killed in yesterday's blaze reportedly sparked by the band's pyrotechnics that spread quickly in the overcrowded club. israel moving one of its iron dome missile defense batteries to its border with syria. it could be a game changer if chemical weapons are obtained by terrorists such as hezbollah or al qaeda. israel could launch a preemptive strike. new revelations this morning in the 16-year-old murder of

jonbenet ramsey. we're learning a grand jury did vote to indict. the district attorney did not prosecute. jury members spoke to an online colorado newspaper under the condition that they remain anonymous. police are investigating singer chris brown for his possible involvement in a fight in west hollywood parking lot. witnesses say he was arguing over a parking space when he alleged punched the victim. brown has a history of issues including an attack in 2009 on his then girlfriend rihanna and a brawl at a new york nightclub late last year. a crazy stunt at the x games last night, watch this, could have been a major disaster. check this out. the australian lost control of his snow mobile during a back flip. ouch. he managed to land away from it but the vehicle sped off on its own and into spectators. no one was hurt including strong. another near miss. this one in china as this tractor trailer tries to make a turn. it tips over narrowly missing a motorcyclist right there. he hopped off just in time.

but the truck crushed the front of his bike. he was not happy. we're not even a month into 2013 but republicans already looking toward the mid-term election next year. we'll explain why in about five minutes. all right. watch your wallet. you could soon get walloped with a new surcharge for using your credit card. cnbc's mandy drury. >> it seems as if, richard, quietly, quietly, fees buying things by credit card are moving up. merchants are permitted to hit you with a surcharge when you use certain credit cards. basically it's a win for retailers but a loss for us, the consumer. it is the result, richard, of a class action settlement last july which gives the merchants the option. it's the option. they have to do it. if they want to they can tack as much as a 4% surcharge on to your bill if you pay with visa or mastercard. however, and here's the however, richard. when you consider how competitive the retail environment is, apparently the national retail federation

polled its members and found that none actually plan to add the fee. you've got, for example, toys r us and target. they told nbc news that they would not be passing that on to shoppers. >> profit margins are so skinny when we're talking about retail. >> right. >> let's move to this. the suffering could soon be over for fans of devil dogs, ring dings and yodels. >> reportedly mckee foods that makes little debbie snack cakes is reportedly offering $25 million to $30 million for hostess brand's drake's brands. the drake assets are apparently composed mostly of intellectual property and also some equipment. >> intellectual property? >> yeah. hostess also on friday won a judge's permission to place two other bread assets on the auction block. as part of this liquidation process, richard, hostess's various brands, the bread, ringdings, twinkies, they're all being auctioned off and

hopefully sold off to lucky buyers. >> i think we just did this story because we wanted to say ring dings and yodels. >> i know. add another two awards for "argo." the film took home best ensemble cast at the screen actors guild awards. it also won the top prize as the producers guild awards heating up the race for oscar against "lincoln." that film's star daniel day-lewis won for best actor. >> and then it occurred to me that it was an actor that murdered abraham lincoln. and, therefore, somehow it's only fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again. >> all right. jennifer lawrence, by the way, won best actress for "silver linings playbook." on the tv side downton abbey won best drama ensemble. "modern family" best comedy. and in its final season alex

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2014 can be a watershed election for republicans in the senate with iowa senator tom harkin's unexpected announcement over the weekend that he won't seek re-election in 2014. republicans are feeling optimistic. this came after another democrat, west virginia senator jay rockefeller, decided to retire as well. his seat will likely be picked up by a republican. democrats outnumber republicans in the senate right now by ten. the gop would need a gain of six seats in 2014 to take control of that part of the congress. i am joined now by roll call's politics staff writer shira toplif.

harkin's decision to step aside has triggered a wide open race, a jump ball if you will for his senate seat. the race could attract a number of contenders from tea party favored candidates like representative king to others. what's your thought? how is this both an opportunity and a it's ftest for republican? >> well, it's an opportunity for republicans because it's now an open seat. iowa has not had an open senate seat since the 1970s. all right? so this is a good shot in a state that's been competitive terrain. the bad news for republicans, because there hasn't been an open senate seat in a time there's a bit of a bottleneck syndrome. there's a lot of republicans looking at the race, interested in running. this is their big shot. as a result, you're probably going to have a primary on the "r" side. it's not certain yet. he just announced his retirement a couple days ago. it's looking like it. >> when you look at the faces we just had up there a moment ago the possibility of having a candidate make it through the primary that is right of the center of the gop, they may win

the primary, but as we've seen in the past with sharon engel, christina mcdonnell, once you get in the general, they don't win. they don't get enough of the center. >> right. that's definitely a concern among iowa republicans right now. can a republican who wins the nomination win statewide? that's obviously going to be key. the two republicans they're looking at quite closely right now, representative steve king, an outspoken conservative and favorite of national con serbtives, and representative tom latham who just won re-election in the southwest corner of iowa in a very competitive district. tom latham over the course of his almost two decade long career has represented 55 of iowa's 99 counties. by all accounts he's a strong candidate. can he win the primary, though, against steve king? >> we've been saying it for about two years. going to go forward for another two to four years. changing of the guard if you will. there's another liberal line as i was mentioning that is gone. earlier we had the loss of ted

kennedy. now you have harkin also leaving the senate. who takes up the gap for democrats? >> right. well, we'll see in terms of the help committee which obviously harkin was chairman of. we'll see in two years how the cards shake out on that. i think that's a real question right now. there's been a lot of talk about the republican party being at a crossroads with conservatives and kind of right of center granch. but in a way senate democrats are also at a crossroads. you have a younger generation, more business minded democrats versus an older generation which one by one, cycle after cycle, is retiring. >> let's talk about that. republicans, the gaps there and the more moderate republicans, o olympia snowe gone. georgia senator saxby chambliss announcing he would not run again. chambliss was facing a heated primary challenge by conservatives in his party. that probably fed into his decision there. and recently we've seen very conservative republican candidates win the primaries. i was mentioning earlier. but not being able to go forward. who's going to take up that space for the moderate

republicans? >> well, it's hard. because as you mentioned a lot of them are gone or they're halfway out the door. i would look to someone like senator bob corker, for example. we saw during the clinton testimony last time he just took his ranking position on senate foreign relations committee. he didn't pound clinton as hard as some of his colleagues in the senate. i think democrats will probably look to him if they want to strike some kind of deal in the near future. and lamar alexander as well. he has a little bit more of a tradition of working across the aisle with democrats. although i will note he is up for re-election in 2014. so maybe not in the next two years. but maybe after that if he wins re-election. >> let's talk about timing here. senate majority leader harry reid saying he wants announcements earlier as opposed to later so that they can line up what you were just talking about. feed that bench. make sure to get that pipeline going earlier on in the process. does this help really democrats more or republicans, these announcements coming out now right after the inauguration? >> it unquestionably helps

democrats more. if it's someone in their party who is announcing their retirement. i fgo back to former senator evn bayh who announced he was going to retire. it really hurt his party. senator bayh was basically a sure thing for re-election. the party was really counting on him to run again. instead they were caught with their hands open. they didn't know what to do and to recruit a candidate. so it really is helpful. especially when you're looking at statewide races like running for senate where you need to build a fundraising network. you need to start collecting cash. you need to start getting endorsements. it really helps. also the earlier the seat is open, it gives the party more time to be able to shift through a potential primary. >> we've got 21 months in political time. that is a long, long time as you and i both know. roll call's shira toeplitz, thank you so much. today's tweet of the day a sad reminder from nasa. the space organization tweeted this photo of the crew of the space shuttle "challenger" and wrote this, quote.

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more than 50 people are now dead after five days of anti-government protests in egypt. nbc's eamon is live. >> reporter: good morning, richard. a short while ago egypt's upper house of parliament approved a motion that gives the egyptian military the authority of arrest civilians. now, this comes a day after egypt's president issued a very stern warning in the face of five days of deadly protests in which he declared a state of emergency in three major cities along the suez canal and also imposed a curfew. as you mentioned more than 50 people have been killed in these riots that are taking place. many of the protesters angry at

president mohamed morsi. they want a new constitution and they want some of the promises of the revolution to be delivered upon. that has not yet happened. the leading members of the country's political opposition, too, have also rejected any efforts by the president for negotiations. so it is an extremely polarized day here in egypt, richard. >> eamon, you bring that up. it's been two years since the massive tahrir square uprising. watchers as well, citizens there in egypt wondering how far away they are from the progress that they have looked forward to. >> reporter: well, on the streets the people protesting represent a minority. there's no doubt there are legitimate fwree advangrievance. more importantly the political intransigence in this country has become the most dividing issue. people feel -- that includes the opposition -- they feel that president morsi and the islamist politicians have really taken over the government. they're not creating a pluralistic democratic society. that's what's leading to this anger on the streets. right now there's no attempts to try and narrow that political

division two years after this country was united. >> almost 6:00 p.m. in cairo. ayman, thank you. that wrap up this hour of "jansing & co.." >> i had a really good weekend. monday comes awfully too fast. chance for friday coming soon. richard, thanks so much. good morning, everybody. agenda next hour, parallel policy agendas. will one debate extinguish the other? how will the president get both those plans through congress? we'll take a look. then, the "60 minutes" interview. monday morning quarterbacking is in full swing. the president and hillary clinton sit down together for a 30-minute interview. did we watch the president anoint his successor four years in advance? the gop pushing a different tone to package the same ideas that cost them the 2012 election. will that strategy work? and i have diabetic nerve pain. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it was like pins and needles sticking in your toes and in your feet.

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